Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

This last Friday, August 24, 2007 we formalized REDI as a non-profit organization for the purpose of pursuing targeted currency solutions to problems faced by communities within the Denver Metropolitan Region.

There are a number of opportunities and issues that we would like to discuss in public so as to have "transparency in decision making" and take advantage of the knowledge pool available in networked environments.

We have adopted bylaws designed for asynchronous participation of the Board of Directors and this is an experiment in how those bylaws work.
We are interested in helping stimulating the conversation, "What can We do to make Our community a better place to live?" as a way to attract groups of people interested in implementing targeted currency solutions.
We are interested in how groups promoting local production for local consumption can use targeted currencies to help build communities that will be stable in the face of economic and environmental change.
We are interested in how targeted currencies can help the disadvantaged in our communities to make increasing contribution to the wellbeing of the community in exchange for an increasing quality of life.

We thank the NetworkWeavers for sponsoring our conversation here.

See the Index of REDI Workspaces.

Last comment added: Fri, 30 May 2008 09:27:40 PDT

Comment 1 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Would anyone on the Board of Directors like to add, delete or change anything that I said above. I know I am being presumptuous.

Comment 2 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Sounds like a wonderful initiative, David!

I'm extremely happy to have Network Weavers serve as a temporary space for REDI discussions on Ned. And, over time, I'll also be extremely happy to find ways that Network Weavers can be of service to the REDI initiative.

I just want to suggest, up front, that at some point in the future -- once there is critical mass of interest -- that REDI be spun off into its own Ned group. It's a project that I believe deserves attention in and of itself!

Comment 3 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I went ahead and ordered my "business cards" today. They will be ready Friday at which time I will begin attending events sponsored by local groups of one sort or another - looking for connections across interest and expertise.

Next steps:

1- describe the community portal software and a program to fund development through Source Tree Commons and neighborhood sponsors.

2- develop an "interested in REDI" e-mail list. (John sent me his suggestions - have to see which of those e-mails I have and ask him for the rest) See that the Board is registered at Ned so I can nudge them with a PM.

3- e-mail my class of the Colorado Institute for Leadership Training to see who is interested in participating.

4- think through a series of local "events" that REDI and partners can host to get more people involved.

5- working with Daniel Bassill and Habib on Social Network Analysis from a issue centric perspective.

6- working with Bryan Daugherty re: MESE and LOPM (if we are both doing the local organizing, maybe we can compare notes)

Well that ought to keep me busy for a while.

Comment 4 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John called me today and asked if we should be applying for the MacArthur Grant. I am setting up a workspace for that. It is for innovations in digital education and I am wondering if the community portal as a way for "youth" to learn about community development might fit within their requirements.

Comment 5 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John e-mailed me this thought that I have not had a chance to think through yet:

I'm now thinking that we might want to make this a pilot focused on UCD and surrounding neighborhoods. We would allow participation from other areas as well, but we would not use resources from this grant to try to attract them.

What do you think about that?

Comment 6 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I really like the idea of using UCD as a pilot. I'm beginning my grad degree here in Jan after my 2 BAs are done, so I'm pretty much a permanent resource. Plus we have Harv, and that's where I was introduced to REDI.

John, if you remember, there was myself and another student, Jason (blonde guy), who were adament in getting involved with REDI, and I have another class with him this semester. Its only once a week, already passed, so its too late to get him in on the next meeting, plus we don't use online tools for that class, so I don't have his email, but its a good start. I also have a political thought class with other young idealists looking for an outlet to funnel their ambitions. Snatching them up might prove very useful for us.

I'll gather as much info on other student orgs John asked me about for the meeting. I wonder does Norman have wireless, because they are all available on www.cudenver.edu under current students?

I agree, David, that we don't need to use resources that cost money to attract this population. All levels at this school are looking to become involved, espically locally now with our growing regional economy. Plus, as students, we don't expect much, except to make an impact.

That was kind of a long way of saying, I agree. These are great ideas. As I was in the Career Center, looking to satisfy my internship requirements from volunteer activities for REDI, the only thing my counselor said was if the meetings are NOT held at private residences, but a coffeeshop or board room, then UCD is an open market for REDI. Hmmm, maybe for the get involved link on the REDI site there could be a small graphic that says, "UCD students: satisfy your internship requirements with REDI" I know half of my colleagues complain how incomplete and uninteresting their internships are.

Okay I'm on NED, works much better than SKYPE. Sorry about the poor spelling; I'm a product of spell check.

Comment 7 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I have asked the Board members of REDI to join me here to see if this site will work for us for asynchronous participation and "transparency in decision making".

There are a couple of other communities actively using Ned for internal communications and planning that may illustrate what I am proposing we do for our organizing in Denver. Please see the Salt Springs group and the Uganda group.

Comment 8 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John, if you remember, there was myself and another student, Jason (blonde guy),

Yes--Jason has contacted me separately. I have his email and have been inviting him to the meetings. He was busy over the summer, but does seem very interested. I'll send him an additional reminder for this Sunday's meeting. I'll also give Harv a call about it, as well.

As I was in the Career Center, looking to satisfy my internship requirements from volunteer activities for REDI, the only thing my counselor said was if the meetings are NOT held at private residences, but a coffeeshop or board room, then UCD is an open market for REDI. Hmmm, maybe for the get involved link on the REDI site there could be a small graphic that says, "UCD students: satisfy your internship requirements with REDI" I know half of my colleagues complain how incomplete and uninteresting their internships are.

Great Idea! I'll add the link. One thing I'm not clear about--are you saying that this doesn't count for your internship if the meetings are held at private residences? In any case, I think it might be wise for us to start meeting in public places where people who might be interested in working with us hang out--especially places where UCD students hang out. We used to have our meetings at Common Grounds at 32nd and Lowell, and several times people overheard what we were talking about and came up and asked how they could be involved. We stopped meeting there because they had live music on the nights we were meeting and it was difficult to talk. Lets have our next meeting at a coffeeshop on or near UCD--at a time when there is no live music.

Okay I'm on NED, works much better than SKYPE. Sorry about the poor spelling; I'm a product of spell check.

Comment 9 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Okay I'm on NED, works much better than SKYPE.

NED works fine for me. I like that its similar to having our meetings in a coffee shop (where people can overhear our conversations).

I'm not having any problems using it. So far it looks exactly like Omidyar. One thing I'm wondering about though--is there a way to set up an RSS feed on NED so I get a notice in my email when there are changes or additions to this discussion and our workspace pages?

Comment 10 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

The only RSS feed I'm aware of is for the Private Messages (when you click on a persons name it takes you to there profile and their, in the brown nav bar is "send the user a message") That is why I asked each of you to join the group - if you go to the home tab in the brown nav bar, and then click on "about" there is a list of members and we can "nudge" each other with a private message when there is something new to consider.

I am hoping instead that there will be enough happening that all of us check in at least a couple times a week.

edit: spelling

Comment 11 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John, Great to hear about Jason, and I mentioned the meeting to Harv, but I said I could not remember if we had decided to make the meeting Board only or the discussion board only.

Yes, I am saying that if the meetings are not held at public locations then they do not count towards an internship. When I was discussing this with the counselor, she said the internship credit can be satisfied by significant volunteer activities. She also said that REDI sounded like a great venue for this, however, she did say that meetings need to be held in public places because of University liability.

http://www.cudenver.edu/Student% 20Life/Career%20Center/Faculty%2 0and%20Staff/pages/Internship%20 and%20Cooperative%20Education.as px This site should give you many answers to pursuing REDI as a UCD internship oppurutnity. If the web address does not work, go to www.cudenver.edu then click on Student Life at the top, then the link for the Career Center should be available to you. This is sounding GREAT!

As for meeting places, there are several coffeeshops downtown that are frequented by the UCD/involvement crowd. One is Leela's which I meet to conduct meetings and business often. Sometimes the music (overhead) gets a little loud, but the baristas are usually nice enough to turn it down if you ask. But most times, its a good place to meet. Plus they have coffee AND BEER. UCD students also frequent the Starbucks on 15th and Larimer and the one on Colfax right before Kalamath. I'll see if I can think of other places to meet, but those seem pretty consistent.

David, I'm really liking using NED. Thanks for organizing us in such a great location.

Comment 12 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Glad you like it. Our host will be pleased.

Comment 13 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

So, if we are going to revise community portals to be an educational effort for the MacArthur Grant, we need to think through how that works. Chris Macrae posted this video from the Ted conference from an educator who points out that:

the children starting school this year will be retiring in 2060 - we have no idea what the world will be like in 2060 - but we continue to insist on schools designed to produce industrial workers

I am thinking we could go with the Planetary Mind approach:

We are born into a world with existing political and economic structures with which we must learn to interact for our comfort and survival. We tend to think of those structures as “the powers that be” yet all economic and political power resides ultimately in the individual . . . No organization or structure has any power except that which we cede to it. Therefore, each of us has the power to change the political and economic structure in which we find ourselves. The question is how do we exercise that power to create the world we want?

Or the Whole System Design approach:

Whole System Design is about the power to change reality by changing the set of relationships that create objective reality. Humans do this all the time - mostly unconsciously - as when we cause the extinction of species through habitat destruction. For purposes of discussion we can call that - actions that decrease complexity (downward spirals). It is also possible for humans to create new relationships in ways that increase complexity creating upward spirals - and changing objective reality for the better.

John, are you the one who left the comment at community portals? I agree with you that the new things not available elsewhere are the value added - and are what will attract those who are already familiar with computers. What do you think about people who have no experience with computers? I am thinking a user interface with everything they might want to do is important.

Comment 14 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

P.S. I like the start you made in the work space.

If we can articulate this well, it will not matter whether or not we get the MacArthur Grant. Every community needs this tool - and this conversation - and we should be able to fund it as a project of Source Tree Commons.

Comment 15 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Or how about A future conducive to human life?

Comment 16 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Had a good board meeting Sunday at Norman's house and I will be drafting and posting the minutes this afternoon.

We agreed that we would use Ned for transparent board communications and work to have regular meetings in public that would be more "networking opportunities" from the point of view of the participants - engaging an ever broader cross section of the community for the purposes of the conversation "What can We do . . . ?"

Laura and John wanted to see my essay on Building the Hydrogen Economy and there is a list of other examples of whole system design.

Comment 17 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Hi I was emailing Leela's (the coffeeshop) and began to wonder what we exactly mean by sponsoring our meeting. Do we just mean hosting for a large(r) audience? Allowing us to use their space? Or will be asking for any other services larger than the ones they alreaedy provide? Wireless, elevated stage, power, and place? Thanks, Laura

Comment 18 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

For the initial meeting I don't think we will need any special services other than to reserve a space adequate for the number of people we expect. If we are successful in attracting the participation we want, we can start start thinking about a variety of events and a variety of sponsorship opportunities.

I guess you guys got Norman's e-mail - sorry that he chose to contribute elsewhere. Be thinking of people we want to recruit for the Board and "partners" (other organizations) that can help sponsor these events.

Comment 19 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John,

Are you familiar with the Barter Software from New Zealand? You might want to join this discussion over in the Open Capital group. I am also interested to know if my comment there is explanatory.

Comment 20 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I am working on creating an Index of REDI Workspaces where I can keep track of what we are working on and linking that to the "home" tab in the brown group nav bar above. One of the workspaces I would like to see is a list of links to other useful sites like the one I did at O.net

Comment 21 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John, when you have a minute, can you look at the bylaws and enter the registered office info? if you are comfortable with that, thanks

Comment 22 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John and Laura,

I know that we do not need much formality yet - but I am trying to structure this for when we are a big deal in Denver. Will you each please look at Minutes of the 9/23/07 Meeting and add anything I forgot and add your name as approving the minutes when you approve. Thanks.

Comment 23 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I will be leaving town and off line from Monday October 1 through October 5. Let me know if there is anything I can help with this weekend. Otherwise, I will be in touch again next Saturday.

Comment 24 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

HI I just wanted to say I emailed Leelas on Wednesday of last week. No response yet, but I will follow up before I leave town next weekend (Oct 5-9). Thanks guys.

Comment 25 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David Braden said:

...

Are you familiar with the Barter Software from New Zealand?

Yes, that is XO--they are one of the 5 software packages we looked at when we were reviewing software for REDI. They were the runner up to GETS and Current Innovations. There were a couple of areas where they did not meet our requirements, though:

Their software does not handle automatic reporting of transactions to the IRS (GETS does)
XO does not have the capability to create afinity groups, unlike GETS
XO's search by location was not nearly as robust as GETS'. With XO the smallest geography we could search was by state, but GETS uses google maps, enabling you to specify members that are within a certain distance and to see them on a map.
CI is a nonprofit whose purpose is to help communities set up a trade exchange. Annette Riggs, CI's ED, has over 20 years of experience in the barter industry and at the same time is firmly committed to the community currency movement. XO is primarily oriented towards the traditional trade exchange as business, although they are making significant overtures with their grant program towards communities that want to start their own exchange.

You might want to join this discussion over in the Open Capital group. I am also interested to know if my comment there is explanatory.

I looked at the discussion and quickly got overwhelmed. The signal to noise issue again. It would take me hours to wade through that discussion.

Comment 26 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John and I had a discussion about start up logistics on the phone Saturday. John had spoken with Mickki about the Business Alliance and participating in the application for the MacArthur grant. Mickki is not particularly interested and John is thinking that the best use of his time would be to simply start asking businesses to participate in the trade exchange.

We also talked about approaching the existing trade exchange and see if there are possible synergies - they do not have the local focus and are charging two to three times what we anticipate.

I am still focused on the "local organizing" - "start the conversation" aspect. Once we have an agreed plan of action, I want to notify a number of my local contacts and then start work in my own neighborhood of Applewood - with the Applewood Homeowners Association and the Applewood Business Owners Association.

I got an e-mail today from Alexia Parks - it looks like Vote Link has been completely reworked. If and when we want to take a vote as a Board we should consider trying it out - as well as a poll here on Ned.

John will call Laura and see where we are on scheduling the network gathering at Leela's.

John, you were going to post a couple of new workspaces - one with the numbers for the trade exchange and one for a list of businesses that would be needed for a successful exchange. If you will post a comment here when you do so - I want to keep our workspace index up to date.

Comment 27 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Hi, I'm back. Haven't got to read the last 2 posts yet because I'm on a minute study break from mid terms. Leela's says its cool. I talked to Jason from UCD and he's wanting to help. I will return when midterms are over and my graduate application is in (Oct 15). Thanks for you patience guys, cheers, Laura

Comment 28 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Okay, most of the midterms have cleared. I only have 2 more, one on Wednesday and one on Thursday. I propose we set this meeting sometime in the first or second week of November on a Wednesday around 6 p.m. Does this sound do-able for you guys? Can either of you recommend a specific date? David, I'd like to get started on making flyers - perhaps you could give me your thoughts and feelings on what to include. John, your thoughts as well are appricated. I will ask Leela's if a presentation by means of projection is at all possible. I don't have a projector, so that's what I will be asking. Okay that's what I got today. Cheers, Laura

Comment 29 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Welcome back Laura - good luck on your tests. I have a regular Wednesday meeting - that I can skip - is there a particular reason for Wednesday? If so, I can do either 11/7 or 11/14.

I have been procrastinating - but intend to work on an "elevator pitch" today - which should help with the language for flyers. As I have said, I am probably not the best person to do that since I am thinking all of this.

The place I think we are is described in TheBasicIdea.

Comment 30 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

An elevator pitch, as I understand it, is what we say to a person willing to give us 30 seconds of their time.

A Future Conducive to Human Life is my three minute presentation.

I can do Three Dimensional Networking in 45 seconds or so.

How about:

Casual Acquaintance: So, what are you doing these days?

Response: We are holding a local conversation, across interest and expertise, for the purpose of implementing sustainable systems of production.

Comment 31 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I just added a workspace for a pre-launch workplan for the REDI trade exchange.

As I've said to David, but not yet to Laura, its occurring to me now that we actually have two projects: The local organizing how do we make our community a better place to live conversation and creating a local trade exchange. It occurs to me as a mistake to try to talk to people about both at once--either one of them is hard enough to convey by themselves. It also occurs to me that for the most part, the two projects have two separate markets or audiences, although there is some overlap of people who will be interested in both.

Comment 32 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

As far as the REDI trade exchange goes, I'm now proposing a new strategy. I'm now thinking that we don't need to have a lot of seed money (or any seed money, really) before we start talking to businesses about joining the exchange. I think it will take as long or longer to get seed funding so we can hire staff to talk to businesses as will to recruit the businesses to join ourselves.

Also, I had been thinking that we needed to have 200 businesses on board before launch. However, Annette Riggs at Current Innovations, (http://www.currentinnovations.or g) who has over 20 years of experience in the barter industry, says that 50 businesses, carefully selected to be able to trade with each other, would be enough.

So my new plan (REDI Trade Exchange Work Plan) is to get all of the infrastructure in place so that businesses can join, make a prioritized list of businesses and then start inviting them to join.

I will create another workspace where we can start listing and prioritizing businesses.

Comment 33 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Changing the subject again, it looks to me like the REDI trade exchange can't qualify as a 501(c)(6):

"Its purpose must not be to engage in a regular business of a kind ordinarily carried on for profit, even if the business is operated on a cooperative basis or produces only sufficient income to be self-sustaining."

from http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/ eotopick03.pdf

Comment 34 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Hi, I haven't read the last 4 posts, but will on Friday. I'm booked till then, but I wanted to say 2 things. David- I did not pick wednesday for any reason, I thought at the last meeting that you had a weekly event on Thursday. But since I know now it is the other way around, lets just have it on a Thursday. The other thing is http://www.mscd.edu:9099/MetroCa l/Calendar/ShowEventDetail.jsp?e ventID=2007101840395 . I know its short notice, but that is the Grandson of South Africa’s former president, Nelson Mandela, Cedza Dlamini. And his lecture will be no doubt stimulating. I will be attending. Sorry about the short notice. I will give more notice for the economic hitman. Cheers, talk soon, Laura

Comment 35 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David and I were talking the other day about offering referral fees for businesses that bring other members into the trade exchange. However, after talking to Annette, I've now changed my mind about this. Annette says she has never seen any referral programs that actually worked. She says if people like the service and feel like it works and benefits them, they will tell others about it without needing extra encouragement. And if they don't like it, the referral fee is not going to make a difference in their decision to tell others about it or not. Things like trust and friendship and their reputation are worth more to them than the little referral fee.

Comment 36 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I just created a space to list businesses that we would like to invite to join the REDI trade exchange. Actually, so far, I've just talked about the kinds of businesses we want--there is not a place to list them yet.

Comment 37 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I added a table of contents and some summary text to the index page. Let me know what you think. Undo/revise/add to my changes at will.

Comment 38 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Kind of tied up today - I took a look at your changes to the index page - looking good -

Does Thursday November 8 work for everyone for our first networking meeting? If so, I will contact Art and Mickki as representatives of Mile Hi Business Alliance, Alexia Parks on behalf of Vote Link, . . .

And ask them to be co-sponsors of the conversation across interest, expertise, ideology and the socio-economic spectrum about "What can We do to make Our community a better place to live?"?

Laura, I assume you will ask Jason and Harv - please invite them to join us here as well.

John, I still have to update the "interested in REDI" e-mail list - I will contact you when I figure out who I still need. Do you want to contact MBD?

Comment 39 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I will invite them. I will wait until tomorrow afternoon to email Leela's and tell them Nov 8. Just in case after you talk to Art and Mickki there are any changes. Cheers. I'm excited to leave names under the new businesses page.

Comment 40 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David Braden said:

...: Does Thursday November 8 work for everyone for our first networking meeting?

It only works for me if its before 3 pm. Kellie will be out of town that day and I'll be picking up and watching my son David and a couple of neighbor kids. But I say go ahead with the 8th anyway.

John, I still have to update the "interested in REDI" e-mail list - I will contact you when I figure out who I still need. Do you want to contact MBD?

I'd say hold off on MBD for now. But go ahead and include Caitlin on the list.

Comment 41 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David Braden said:

Does Thursday November 8 work for everyone for our first networking meeting?

A thought about how to provide a little more structure to the evening. You could show "The Upward Spiral" first to get people's creative juices flowing. I think that the part about trees and plants transpiring water into the atmosphere where it can benefit all organisms, rather than hoarding it in their own private reservoir is a great example. Art can give you more ideas about this and would I think be very adept at leading this kind of discussion.

I also think that its important in the invitation to let people know that we're not talking about them taking on doing new or more stuff necessarily. Its about working better, not working harder. Its about how to work together, find synergies, share rather than compete and leverage our efforts to be more successful in what we're already trying to accomplish.

Comment 42 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John said:

Its about how to work together, find synergies, share rather than compete and leverage our efforts to be more successful in what we're already trying to accomplish.

Exactly!!!!

Would Tuesday, Nov. 6 or 13 or Thursday, Nov. 15 work better? I can do any of those - John, I think you need to be there.

Comment 43 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Would Tuesday, Nov. 6 or 13 or Thursday, Nov. 15 work better? I can do any of those - John, I think you need to be there.

I think 11/15 would work. The other dates don't work for me.

Comment 44 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Just got a message from the Case Foundation. The REDI trade exchange application did not make it into the top 100. Neither, from what I can tell, did your application, David, nor did the Mile High Business Alliance. They had over 4200 applications--pretty fierce competition!

This experience of competition for scarce resources is all the more reason for us to move ahead with the local organizing project.

Comment 45 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Yes, I just read my declination notice. What do you think about the "fund raising widget" they are promoting? I would like to have many organizations cooperate with Source Tree Commons to build the community portal software.

I will e-mail Laura, Arthur, Mickki, and Alexia to see if 11/15 works, and if so, let's start contacting people. What about this approach?

REDI (Regional Economic Development Initiative), as co-sponsor, is holding the first of a planned series of networking functions. We hope to bring together existing organizations to work together, find synergies, share rather than compete and leverage our efforts to be more successful in what we're already trying to accomplish.

Join us November 15, 2007 at 6:00 pm (or after? - no harm in arriving late?), at Leela's (address) (map link). For a conversation on "What can We do to make Our community a better place to live?"

Sponsors (with live links):

REDI (Do we want to link to the REDI Web site? we will need to work on that some?)

MHBA

VoteLink

David Braden

"connecting across interest, expertise, ideology and the socio-economic spectrum to implement sustainable systems of production".

http://www.aboutus.org/3DN_Intro duction

Comment 46 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Ok, Laura says November 15, is good and will set it up with Leela's.

I heard from Alexia and she is interested in co-sponsoring. Next steps:

finalize invitation

Invite "interested in REDI"

Invite CILT group

Still waiting on Art & Mickki - think the Upward Spiral Video is a good idea - what else do we want to emphasize?

Comment 47 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David Braden said:

...What do you think about the "fund raising widget" they are promoting? I would like to have many organizations cooperate with Source Tree Commons to build the community portal software.

I haven't looked at it. Right now, I'm thinking we probably don't need to fund-raise to implement the trade exchange, so I'm not very interested in it.

...What about this approach?

REDI (Regional Economic Development Initiative), as co-sponsor, is holding the first of a planned series of networking functions. We hope to bring together existing organizations to work together, find synergies, share rather than compete and leverage our efforts to be more successful in what we're already trying to accomplish.

Join us November 15, 2007 at 6:00 pm (or after? - no harm in arriving late?), at Leela's (address) (map link). For a conversation on "What can We do to make Our community a better place to live?"

Personally, the question "What can We do to make Our community a better place to live?" does not interest me very much. I'm pretty clear about what we can do and I'm interested in how we can do it.

I'd like to spend our time looking at what we (the various organizations participating) are already up to and how we can work together to do that more effectively and efficiently. Are there places where we are duplicating effort? Are there places where we're competing for the same resources where we could be collaborating?

On the other hand, when I try really hard, I can get that for some people, my "build a local trade exchange" answer to the "what can we do question" must sound like just a bunch of noise. Its arrogant and presumptuous on my part to think that just because I'm not interested in the question that others wouldn't be also.

Comment 48 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John said:

Its arrogant and presumptuous on my part to think that just because I'm not interested in the question that others wouldn't be also.

I don't think it is arrogant and presumptuous. I think that each of us tends to focus on those things that interest us - and feel like we do not have time to do anything else. When I was working with the Emerging Futures Network, I was talking about it as - each of us looking up from our individual projects to see how they might fit together - leading to all of us working on our individual projects together. Don't know how much sense that makes to everyone else.

What I hope to see is a broad spectrum of organizations (non-profits, businesses, governments, and educational institutions) each looking up from their respective missions to see how what they want to do fits in a "bigger picture" that WE will co-create. I do not see a downside to participating - all organizations need to market their offerings and participating is at least another way to do that - even if it does not result in access to the resources each group is seeking.

Or, as you say, each group can continue to compete for the attention of the public and a limited pool of funding.

Comment 49 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I just edited the REDI Trade Exchange Business Leads List, adding space to list the businesses and adding information about how to list them. Rather than trying to deal with a table, which I've found to be pretty difficult in a wiki, I think we can just list the businesses and then create a link to a page with additional information about them. Make sure you don't list any information that is not publicly available.

Comment 50 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I think I'm pretty caught up now.

REDI (Regional Economic Development Initiative), as co-sponsor, is holding the first of a planned series of networking functions. We hope to bring together existing organizations to work together, find synergies, share rather than compete and leverage our efforts to be more successful in what we're already trying to accomplish.

Join us November 15, 2007 at 6:00 pm (or after? - no harm in arriving late?), at Leela's (address) (map link). For a conversation on "What can We do to make Our community a better place to live?"

I like the idea of starting with the what we can do and progressing to the how that John expressed interest in. I am interested in both, and hopefully that can be a bridge for us.

I think I might take these 2 statements, format them, then add something that is more appealing to the college student crowd, like a strong headline. I know that a glance at the flyer board is the best most students give, so I want to grab their attention with something, reinforce what REDI is, then provide the meeting info. What do you guys think about that? Because of my demographic, should I go ahead and create this "student specific" flyer to ensure we get the most participation?

Comment 51 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura said:

I think I might take these 2 statements, format them, then add something that is more appealing to the college student crowd, like a strong headline. I know that a glance at the flyer board is the best most students give, so I want to grab their attention with something, reinforce what REDI is, then provide the meeting info. What do you guys think about that? Because of my demographic, should I go ahead and create this "student specific" flyer to ensure we get the most participation?

I think we are all experimenting and I am perfectly happy letting Laura use her best judgment at attracting students. John and I had talked about focusing initially on the Auraria area and targeting businesses there for the first 50 to start the trade exchange - that still makes sense to me - particularly if we can attract the participation of some students.

In terms of "the conversation", I see that taking place on several levels. The "Auraria neighborhood" is one level - and what we are doing might result in a regular meeting just for the neighborhood. According to the plan we would also be attracting people interested in hosting the conversation for other neighborhoods and across bigger areas up to a "regional conversation".

On another note, Mickki e-mailed saying - of course the Mile High Business Alliance will participate - she is checking her schedule to see if she and Arthur can attend. If they cannot can we still show the DVD of the Upward Spiral? Or do we need to work through some other presentation?

Can I ask Mickki to send an e-vite to the REDI core team?

Comment 52 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura Schellberg said:

...

I think I might take these 2 statements, format them, then add something that is more appealing to the college student crowd, like a strong headline. I know that a glance at the flyer board is the best most students give, so I want to grab their attention with something, reinforce what REDI is, then provide the meeting info. What do you guys think about that? Because of my demographic, should I go ahead and create this "student specific" flyer to ensure we get the most participation?

I think that's a great idea--I say go ahead.

Comment 53 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David Braden said:

...John and I had talked about focusing initially on the Auraria area and targeting businesses there for the first 50 to start the trade exchange - that still makes sense to me - particularly if we can attract the participation of some students.

A focus on the Auraria area (say that one 5 times fast) still makes sense to me too.

...If they cannot can we still show the DVD of the Upward Spiral? Or do we need to work through some other presentation?

I think we could still do that, if you and Laura think it fits. (Have both of you seen it? David did you watch it at the common house with us a while back? I can't remember who was there.) Although Arthur has more practice at this and would be the best choice to lead the discussion if he's there, I could lead a discussion based on the Upward Spiral if he's not there.

Can I ask Mickki to send an e-vite to the REDI core team?

Sure.

Comment 54 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I just added a page for the REDI trade exchange business plan. This is a quick and dirty version, which I envision as mainly for our own use. I've finished most of the text, but there are a number of things to add to it, mainly the financials. Annette Riggs has promised to get copies of the plans for the Napa Valley exchange and the Vermont exchange for me to look at.

The business plan is a work in progress--feel free to revise it and edit it and add your comments.

Comment 55 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

...If they cannot can we still show the DVD of the Upward Spiral? Or do we need to work through some other presentation?

I think we could still do that, if you and Laura think it fits. (Have both of you seen it? David did you watch it at the common house with us a while back? I can't remember who was there.) Although Arthur has more practice at this and would be the best choice to lead the discussion if he's there, I could lead a discussion based on the Upward Spiral if he's not there.

I have not seen it. I'm gonna try to have a flyer made by Thursday or Friday of next week.

Can I ask Mickki to send an e-vite to the REDI core team?

Sure.

Comment 56 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Yes I have seen it. However, we could do this first meeting without showing the DVD - see who shows up - introduce everyone and the idea of the conversation - have each group attending speak a little about what they are advocating -

Haven't heard back from Mickki yet - I did finally hear from the insurance agent - she took some more information and will get back to me with a quote.

Comment 57 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura,

Will the Flyer have a digital form we can e-mail?

Comment 58 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David Braden said:

Laura,

Will the Flyer have a digital form we can e-mail?

Certainly. Not a problem.

Comment 59 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I said I would do better, so here it is. John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, Thursday, November 8th @ Tivoli Turnhalle @ 1 pm.

REDI meeting flyer to come Thursday or Friday. What's the method of printing these? Does anyone have a connection or very economical way of doing this? I can print 30 pages per day at the "Free" lab at school. No color.

Comment 60 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura, if you are willing to print them at the lab, I think that would work for this first meeting.

Comment 61 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura and David,

I said to you via email, my latest take on the REDI trade exchange financials is that we will need at least $21,000 in startup funds. And that is a very optimistic projection. So I think we may want to re-evaluate our strategy. I've set up a meeting with two women at Janine Vandenberg and Associates (http://www.jvaconsulting.com/) who specialize in social enterprises. We're going to be meeting on November 20th.

One option that I'm considering right now is seeking a no-interest or low -interest loan. We could apply for a loan from Microbusiness development. Or we could ask a foundation to give us a loan (or at least a loan guarantee). What do you think?

Comment 62 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I think its a good idea. The MBD loan is a great thing; its just all the paperwork, estimates, projections, data processes. The interest rate is not bad through MBD, and they continue to work for/with you after the loan process. I'll ask around the poli sci department next week if anyone knows other sources. I look forward to getting that flyer done!

Comment 63 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura,

I have a color printer - so if your flyer is 8.5 x 11(14) I could print as many as you need. Let me know if you want to go that route.

John,

I got the financials - I will review them in detail and let you know what I think.

Comment 64 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Here is our okay on Leelas for Nov. 15.

I put you guys on the schedule. Feel free to come in and make yourselves at home, move the furniture to your liking and enjoy.

We are pretty slow at 6pm on thurs. so I think you will be set. -Sadie

Comment 65 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I have just added a page about startup funding for the trade exchange --REDI Trade Exchange Startup Funding. This is both an explanation of how much funding we probably need and a space to brainstorm about possible sources.

Comment 66 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Annette Riggs is moving to Colorado (she just bought a house in Lafayette) on November 15th. I'm not sure yet, but I think that means that she will be able to play a more direct, on-the-ground role in launching the REDI trade exchange.

Comment 67 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Sounds like a great opportunity for us, John. The flyer for Auraria is in your emails. I'm sorry it was much later than promised, I'm sure you understand. We still have a week and 2 days until the meeting. Thanks, hope all is well. Cheers.

Comment 68 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I ran across Kendra Sandoval the other day on LinkedIn. Kendra was involved with REDI for a few months about two years ago. She now works at the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado (http://allianceforcolorado.org/). I'll invite her to come to Thursday's meeting, unless you guys would rather I didn't. The local organizing project is to a large extent what they are doing already.

Comment 69 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I like the flyer Laura. I will forward it to Mickki and Alexia. John, I have looked over the financials and spent some time catching up with the materials you have posted here. I think it's great to invite Kendra - and I would like to connect with ASC if she can't make it. It's also great news about Annette.

I'm not too concerned about what happens on the 15th - I think we are all still experimenting with what will attract participation. I think we should focus on 1) who shows up 2) what interested them 3) what projects they are already involved in 4) how can we cooperate . . .

Still haven't heard from Mickki if she and Arthur are available - and haven't heard back from the insurance agent with a quote.

Comment 70 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I just added a page with my ideas about a Proposal for Micro Business Development. Let me know what you think about it.

Comment 71 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I like the synergy you have proposed for MBD. I am not sure what their position is about "unsecured" loans and if we need a "co-signer" like Piton we are back to grant writing?

I propose that we would keep all these options in mind - put what time we have to devote to this to finding those first 50 members - and if we have 50 members I would guess that we can find a way to fund the start up.

No harm in asking MBD and Piton - keep them in the loop - maybe they will think of something they can use us for - in synergy with their own plans.

Comment 72 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David,

Here's what I think I hear you saying: Sounds to me like you're suggesting that we not put all of our resources (which right now is our time) into trying to fund REDI, but rather that we also continue to put some energy into building membership at the same time. I think this is a good strategy and I'm going to start alternating between activities devoted to bring in seed funding (for now, that means forwarding my proposal to MBD) and activities devoted to bringing in members.

Comment 73 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I invited Kendra Sandoval to the meeting on the 15th. Here is her reply:

Thanks for thinking of us. I would like to attend your gathering on Nov. 15th as it fits perfectly with gatherings that Alliance for Sustainable Colorado is doing right now called round tables. I will see if I can work it into my schedule that evening.

Thank You, Kendra

Comment 74 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I just set up a poll where we can vote on the draft MBD proposal. The poll closes at 2 pm on Wednesday the 14th, so be sure to vote by then.

Comment 75 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I just set up a second poll, this one for the REDI Trade Exchange financials. This one lasts until 2:30 on Wednesday the 14th. If you have questions, let me know.

Comment 76 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Caitlin suggested that AmericanTowns.com might be a good lead for REDI. Looks somewhat similar to a community portal to me, David, what do you think?

http://www.americantowns.com/co/ denver

Here's what they say about their site:

Here's something that can improve your daily life instantly - it's the community webspace for Denver from AmericanTowns.com! When you're tight on time (and who isn't), head here first to get the must-have information to make your day run more smoothly. If you haven't tried it lately, here's a sample of what you'll find...

See what's coming up on the community calendar Discover exciting arts and cultural events nearby Find fun activities for the family Americantown.com is also a powerful tool for making your group or organization more effective in the community. Look at what you can do from one central online location: Post your press releases and get the word out about your events* Add your meetings, fundraisers, and more to the community calendarhttp://www.americantowns.com/co/denver Conduct online fundraising and merchandising through a secure system The new site for Denver from AmericanTowns is your one-stop resource to help you get the most from your town, your time, your life! Click here to see what's going on.

If you would like to link to our directory of Denver community organizations and information from your web site, please click here.

Comment 77 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John said:

Looks somewhat similar to a community portal to me, David, what do you think?

Yes, it looks like it has several of the features of the community portal - I bookmarked it so that I can look at it in more depth. The real key is to find a way for "existing organizations" to agree on a space where we engage in "the conversation". So we would need a discussion space that I didn't see, and I am thinking that it should focus to maybe the neighborhood level - although I like Denver plus 25 miles for example.

Comment 78 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Hello all, flyers are up. John, is there a page where we can suggests businesses who might benefit or be interested in REDI? I'd like to hop on the train and invite as many of them as possible to Thursday's gathering. I thought we started one, but I cannot find it.

Comment 79 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura, I think the list you are looking for is here:

http://www.ned.com/group/network weavers/ws/List/

Comment 80 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Yes, that's where the list is. There aren't many businesses listed there, yet. I have a lot more to list--just haven't made it a priority yet.

My son David is sick and will probably be home with me today, so I may not get much REDI stuff done. If I do have a chance to work on REDI, though, I will be wrapping stuff up for the proposal for MBD--filling out one of their loan applications, doing whatever else they require, and then submitting it to them.

This of course, assumes that both of you approve of heading in this direction--I haven't checked out the polls yet.

Comment 81 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I see that neither of you have voted. You can vote by clicking on the polls tab near the top of this screen and then clicking on one of the two polls.

Or you can just tell me here if you approve or disapprove of the proposal and the financials.

Comment 82 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John, sorry I meant to look at the polls sooner. I reviewed the MBD proposal and voted approval. I also looked at the REDI financials - is that related to the REDI spreadsheets high cost? - Perhaps we can look those over in more detail - is it the phase 1-3 payroll that results in the need to borrow $65,000.00?

Comment 83 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David Braden said:

...is that related to the REDI spreadsheets high cost?

Yes, David, it is a modification of the high cost spreadsheets. The main change is that I increased the transaction fees to 10% (5% each from buyer and seller) up from 8%. This is something that Annette had recommended in one of our phone calls. (And it is also still 5% lower than what IMS charges its Trade Exchange of the Rockies members.) I also think we will be able to reduce these fees in the second year (phases 3 and 4). The spreadsheet shows us ending up with a $200k profit.

Perhaps we can look those over in more detail - is it the phase 1-3 payroll that results in the need to borrow $65,000.00?

Yes, lets look them over in more detail--are you available tomorrow morning? I'll give you a call. Its actually mainly phase 1 and 2 payroll that results in the need to borrow. By phase 3, we'll be in the black.

Comment 84 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

In case you guys didn't receive this, I'm posting this message from Mickki:

Hello friends and colleagues,

As you may know, I've recently been hard at work on getting the Mile High Business Alliance off the ground. This new organization is dedicated to supporting and promoting locally owned businesses, creating a more sustainable and healthy local economy.

To get our "Local First" campaign off the ground, we're launching four "Local Flavor Guides" for the Denver neighborhoods of East Colfax, Santa Fe Arts District, Old South Pearl and Old South Gaylord. These small printed guides will help locals and visitors find the hot spots and local shops that help make Denver unique. One of our founding members, the Local Flavor Marketing Group, has done a brilliant job creating these.

I'm emailing you to ask for your assistance. We are looking for volunteers to help distribute the guides in these neighborhoods and other key locations such as universities and visitor's centers. As a volunteer, you would go door-to-door and speak to the owners and managers of the businesses in these neighborhoods, explaining the various ways those businesses can become distribution points for the guides. There is also an important opportunity to share with these folks the work of MHBA. For many of them, this will be their first introduction to the organization and our programs. The guides are beautiful, and so far businesses seem very excited about the concept.

If you are passionate about keeping our businesses unique or are simply willing to participate in something to support our work, then please join us for our distribution blitz on Monday, November 26th. We will start in the morning, and may go into the afternoon, depending on how many people we can round up. Ideally, I'd like to have teams of folks spend no more than 2-3 hours distributing the guides, to make it easier on everyone.

We will have a one-hour training session for all volunteers on Sunday, November 25th - to ensure you're up to date on the MHBA and our activities and well prepared for the work on Monday. The location is to be determined, but we will likely have the training at the fabulous Mercury Cafe, one of Denver's coolest local restaurants and community places. Please ensure that if you are volunteering, you can attend the training session.

If you know of other people who would be interested in this opportunity to engage with local businesses and launch our "local first" campaign, then please invite them as well. I would like 15 more volunteers to help make this as easy and fun for us as possible.

Please let me know as soon as possible if you will be joining us. Thank you very much for your support as we work together to nourish our community.

In community,

Mickki Langston

It seems to me that what MBHA is up to fits in well with the goals of the local organizing project. Do you think we might be able to recruit people to help distribute the Local Flavor guides? Maybe tomorrow at the meeting at Leela's? Could UCD students count this as an internship?

Comment 85 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura,

This morning David suggested that we should have a quick board meeting tonight before our event at Leela's so we can go over the financials for the trade exchange and anything else that is best done face to face. Are you available to meet at 5:30 tonight at Leela's?

I'm not certain yet that I can be there at that time, but I think it will work. I haven't heard back from my wife yet about when she can get home so she can watch our son. I'll let you guys know when I hear from her.

Comment 86 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

It turns out that all we had was a board meeting - but it was a great meeting and next time around we will have better results.

John, I reviewed the Draft MOU and services list for Community Connect LLC. The $5,000 up front and 10% of fees until another $15,000 is paid seems do able but adds to our short fall on the cash flow projections - and should be added to Our loan request - unless we can reduce that cost, as discussed, by contracting services on a commission basis. Have we submitted the loan request?

I was following up on the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado ASC and your friend Kendra. They are associated with the Colorado Alliance of Sustainable Business Associations CASBA The primary focus seems to be green building - but that would be a natural link - both for REDI and for MHBA. The alliance has a building down near Union Station that the site says is for collaboration among non-profits - and they are holding a "round-table" at the end of November. I will see if I can find out more.

Comment 87 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David Braden said:

... John, I reviewed the Draft MOU and services list for Community Connect LLC. The $5,000 up front and 10% of fees until another $15,000 is paid seems do able but adds to our short fall on the cash flow projections - and should be added to Our loan request - unless we can reduce that cost, as discussed, by contracting services on a commission basis.

David, my original estimate included 20% of fees going to Current Innovations (that shows up on the Sales Forecast sheet in row 56, Total Exchange Transaction $'s). What they are now asking for is $5,000 up front, followed by 20% of transaction fees until we pay an additional $15,000, then 10% of fees on-goingly. I've now plugged these numbers into the spreadsheet and am now estimating that we only need to borrow $75,000. I'm estimating that we can borrow $8,000 of this from the exchange itself in trade credits. This means we would need $68,000 from MBD. I'll send you guys the new spreadsheet via email.

Have we submitted the loan request?

I haven't submitted the loan request yet. I want to clean up the financials spreadsheets first before I send them to Norman. I plan to clean them up on Tuesday.

...The alliance has a building down near Union Station that the site says is for collaboration among non-profits - and they are holding a "round-table" at the end of November. I will see if I can find out more.

Bob Law met with Kendra the other day (I introduced them to each other). Bob said that there are some 3 dozen organizations housed there. One of these is the local office of the Orton Family Foundation, where my friend Ken Snyder works. Another is Co-op America's Denver satellite office--I met the guy who is the sole employee in that office at Caitlin's event at MBD last fall (the one where the Connectory was unveiled).

I think the Alliance is a perfect participant for the local organizing project. Kendra seemed to think so, too.

Comment 88 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Hi, I have the meeting notes. I think it would be best to post them how David did before where they are approved. It isn't as formal as David's but its easy to follow. Can I forward it to you David and it be posted for approval?

Comment 89 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I sent the proposal to MBD yesterday. I ended up asking them to loan us $78,000.

You were right about the $5,000 adding to our shortfall, David--I was just misinterpreting the spreadsheet when I said it didn't.

Comment 90 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura, I will be happy to post the meeting notes. I will send you a PM with my e-mail in case you don't have it.

It will be interesting to see what they say.

Comment 91 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David, did you receive my email with the meeting notes attached? John, I have not forgotten about posting the business list. Finals are approaching.

Comment 92 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I spoke to Annette on Saturday and then David today. This is a summary of those two conversations:

Non-Profit or For-Profit?

Annette feels that we would probably have more success attracting funding if people had a stake in the future of the trade exchange. I told her that we wanted to make sure that REDI would not be sold out from under the members by investors wanting to exit. She said that in Napa, they are retaining 70% of the equity for the members, and that investors could be rewarded with dividends. David said that there are a number of models we could use that would reward investors and still retain member control of the trade exchange. We could choose whichever one fits the needs of potential funders/investors.

Core Team:

Annette said that potential investors would want to see who is involved in making this happen. She herself would like to meet all of us. She said that once she gets an idea of who is involved and what resources we bring, then she can start looking for the resources that we are missing among her contacts in Colorado.

Action Plan:

Here is the new action plan that I propose.

John will contact everyone who has participated in the Core Team in the past, update them on our progress, find out what their level of interest is now, and invite them to come to a meeting in January. David and Laura, please also think of anyone you know who might be interested in supporting the trade exchange and invite them to participate also.
John will contact potential funders/investors and check out their level of interest and find out under what terms they would like to be involved. John and David will consider investing some money now, so that Annette will have at least some of the up front money, enabling her to focus more time on REDI now.
All of us can start looking for staff members--people who would be interested in developing the exchange. If either of you are interested, David and Laura, be sure to throw your names into the hat.
We will also start contacting businesses and business associations and inviting them to endorse REDI--in particular to sign a letter saying that they would be interested in participating if it cost $50 and allowing us to use their name in talking to other businesses. Laura, you had said that you would be wiling to start contacting businesses on East Colfax. Are you still willing to do that?
Update/Develop Marketing Materials:

John will find out from Annette if she already has some marketing templates we could use.

John and Laura will update the REDI brochure.

John will adapt the two page concept paper that Amy Kirschner is using to contact investors in Vermont so we can use it with investors here.

John will update the business plan to create a version that can be distributed to funders/investors.

John will update the REDI website.

David, of course feel free to revise any of this. And both David and Laura, let me know if you object to any part of this plan.

Comment 93 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura Schellberg said:

David, did you receive my email with the meeting notes attached? John, I have not forgotten about posting the business list. Finals are approaching.

Yes, sorry I have not posted them yet - hopefully tomorrow - now. I have been distracted by the great participation in the discussion of honor the gift.

John, the plan sounds great to me.

Comment 94 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura, I went to open the minutes you e-mailed me and my Linux system did not know what to do with a "BIN" file? I went ahead and set up a workspace Minutes of the 11/15/07 Meeting so you can paste the minutes there if you want or resend them in a word or open office format.

Comment 95 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David,

While you are looking into information about starting up an LLC, would you also be willing to take a look at this information about B Corporations? B corps are about

building a new sector of the economy that harnesses the power of private enterprise to create public benefit

Comment 96 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I looked through that website and it appears that it is very similar to what Arthur and Mickki are trying to do with the Mile High Business Alliance. I did not see anything about a new form of corporation or new tax status. It might be a good place for REDI to connect with other alternative currency projects?

Comment 97 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David Braden said:

I looked through that website and it appears that it is very similar to what Arthur and Mickki are trying to do with the Mile High Business Alliance.

It is related to what Arthur and Mickki are doing (I think the B Corporation is an offshoot of BALLE and I found out about it at the BALLE conference this summer) and it is distinct from BALLE.

I did not see anything about a new form of corporation or new tax status.

There are 3 steps to becoming a B Corporation:

taking a survey
amending our corporate governing documents to "incorporate stakeholder interests"
Downloading the founders package so we can start using the B corp seal, identifying us a as a b corporation

Its the 2nd part that I would like you take a look at when you have a moment. Here's what it says on their website about it:

STEP 2: The Legal Roadmap

B Corporations must amend their corporate governing documents to incorporate stakeholder interests. This institutionalizes your values into the DNA of your company so they can better survive new management, new investors or even new ownership. The legal roadmap includes a step-by-step guide through this process. It's simpler than you think.

You can find out more about it here http://www.bcorporation.net/beco me/legal.php I think you'll need a user name and password to access this part. You can either set up your own profile or you can use the one I already set up for REDI (I'll send you the U/N and pw).

It might be a good place for REDI to connect with other alternative currency projects?

Its much much broader than currencies. My guess is that its not likely that it will help us in that area. If there are any currencies that are already B corporations, I think we'll have a hard time locating them there.

What I'm mainly interested in is protecting the stakeholder interests by amending the corporate documents. To a much lesser degree, I'm also interested in the potential marketing benefit.

Comment 98 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Good enough - I'll look into it.

Comment 99 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David and John spoke with Annette yesterday. The conversation focused on three topics concerning the REDI Trade Exchange (RTX): legal structure, the financials spreadsheets and funding.

Legal Structure

Annette seemed to be recommending an LLC structure, which she says is pretty flexible. That's why they chose to make Community Connect an LLC. Under an LLC, investors would be members which is the same as shareholders. And we could create different levels of membership. For instance, we could have a group of trade exchange members and a group of investors (some people might be in both groups). The trade exchange members could own at least a majority, and maybe all, of the equity, held in common, while the investors would receive a portion of the profit (dividends) but would not be able to sell the company. We will need to find investors who are in for the long term--not people who will be looking for the quick exit.

Another advantage of the LLC structure is that the losses that we have in the first year or two can be passed on to the investors. This can be beneficial to the investors for tax purposes. Also, in an LLC investors are not subject to double taxation as they are in a C corp. And if we want to, we could always convert to a c corp later (we cant go from a c corp to an llc though.)

With an LLC, unlike an S corp, we can have foreign investors (some of the people who might be interested in investing in REDI are Canadian).

Also with an LLC we could have our current REDI non-profit as a member (Community Connect has Current Innovations as a member). For instance, the REDI non-profit could control all or most of the equity (70%+), and be owned and controled by the RTX members.

Financials

Annette would like to see us take the financials projections out another 2 years at least so we can show the payoff for investors. We agreed to hold off on this for now, though.

Funding

Annette has been talking to a number of socially conscious investors who are sounding interested in our project.

Comment 100 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David and John spoke this morning. We're thinking that it would be good to follow up quickly on the energy generated by the last REDI meeting. We're thinking about meeting again on January 29th at 6 pm. Would that work for you, Laura? We're not sure that it will work for Annette, yet. We would like to have that meeting include a demo of the GETS software.

We also think that we need to do some brainstorming about organizations that would make good collaborators with the REDI trade exchange. I've set up a space to list our ideas here--Potential Organizations to Collaborate on RTX

[Edited by group owner: David Braden on 15 Jan 2008 08:08 PST: Finalize link]

Comment 101 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Hi, yes Jan 29 works for me except I have class at UCD at 5:30. IS there a way we can schedule around it? This semester my classes are Mon (2:30-5:30) and Tues and Wed (5:30-8:20). David, I FINALLY got around to posting the minutes from 11/15. I know it doesn't help much now, but its still there for us to refer to. After graduation things got really crazy with family and friends visiting until the end of December, and then I lost my internet connection. So I am sorry for my delayed presence. John, I was reading through your and David's postings from early Dec. If you would still like information of LLC, C Corps, and the like, I can pass on some MBD materials to you. The only thing is, the packet is thick and it would difficult to scan so many pages and a waste to copy so many. When we see each other next I can pass it along to you. Also if you'd like it before the 29th I can meet you somewhere and pass it along for a time to you. When we are brainstorming about potential collaborators are we talking orgs or businesses, or both? Thanks guys, have a great day/week, Laura

Comment 102 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

No worries Laura:

I have what I need on LLC's etc. and Edwin e-mailed some from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Final decision is pending the desires of Annette and her group, potential sources of funding, etc.

I would be open for a Monday or a Thursday meeting - or a day time meeting. The main thing is to keep those who expressed an interest - interested - and give them something to do. John and I talked about a presentation for "orgs or businesses, or both" with something like:

Redi is sponsoring a conversation about existing groups working together to increase their effectiveness and exposure. We would like to talk to your members and or decision makers about joining the conversation.

Perhaps something along the lines of the conversation I had with Dan Bassill about his tutor/mentor program in which Dan is highly focused on two dimensional networking and I was trying to point out the potential for the third dimension.

Comment 103 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

This is going to be a busy week for local organizing . . .

Tomorrow John Connell and I are making a presentation for an internship to Harv Bishop's Urban Citizen class at the University of Colorado, Denver. Some interesting possibilities for students to earn credit for local organizing.

On Wednesday the Mile High Business Alliance (the local Balle group) is holding the first of its Inventing Business series which Arthur Brock and Mickki Langston are planning as a series of open space events. Mickki is promoting this first one as exploring the "alchemy of business and community".

On Thursday we are meeting with a friend of John's from the Alliance for a Sustainable Colorado - which is strong in the "Green Building" community - to see where we might find synergy.

Very exciting times.

Comment 104 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I have added a workspace (see Potential Trade Exchange Collaborators) where we can brainstorm about organizations that could rapidly increase membership in the trade exchange, if we were working with them in one form or another. Add your ideas there.

[Edited by group owner: David Braden on 22 Jan 2008 11:03 PST: show link complete]

Comment 105 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I added the following to the Collaborators list:

Each Neighborhood usually also has a homeowners association of some sort and those two groups are a natural for "support your local business" and "what can we do to make our neighborhood a better place to live?"

Where the local business association sponsors events to get more and more of the neighbors involved.

Comment 106 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Tuesday John and I pitched Harv Bishop's class at UCD for interns - lots of blank faces - we'll see if anyone is interested in a couple of weeks. However, one of the other presenters was from Colfax Community Network. CCN works with families and children living in the motels along Colfax Ave (which runs all the way through the center of Metro Denver - some 40 miles). These families cannot afford the security deposit and first months rent for an apartment and so they rent from motels by the day or week. Emily said that the average child of these families changes schools 4 times a year and each change leaves them further behind.

Last night the Mile High Business Alliance held its first open space "Inventing Business Series". A fairly good turn out of 18 or so and about half of those seemed receptive to the concept of both - communities supporting local business and - local businesses supporting community organizing.

There will be another IBS event this coming Tuesday - I'm going to invite Emily from the CCN in hopes of stimulating further interest in "a conversation across interest and expertise about what we can do to make our community a better place to live."

One final thought - I need to change my point of view when I am working with business owners who are participating because they hope to increase business. From the business owner's point of view, three dimensional networking is about discovering new business opportunities through understanding the existing value flow and what flows could be improved or added. Or, perhaps merely, if you support the community the community will support you.

Comment 107 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Emily and her boss have agreed to attend the Tuesday morning meeting - Laura, you should consider attending - It is at Micro Business Development. I would want to introduce you to Anne Richardson - her company did the Local Flavor Guide for East Colfax. I would want to see what kind of synergy we could build between the Blue Bird Beat people, Local Flavor Guide, CCN, etc.

On Thursday morning John, Bob Law and I met with Kendra from Alliance for Sustainable Colorado and Lisa from Earth Force both of whom are involved with Green Print Denver. They were interested in ways that targeted currencies might facilitate getting more citizens involved in sustainability projects. We talked some about the community organizing aspects and they both seemed excited about the possibilities. Between those present at the meeting there are many connections with the North Denver community and it seems possible to get something going in that area as well. Kendra was going to e-mail notes of the meeting but I haven't seen that yet. I was going to introduce her to Ned and see if she would find this format useful.

John and I also had a follow up conversation with Annette about her plans for GETS - she seemed less excited about direct involvement so we are thinking we need to keep exploring potential partners and sources of funding.

Comment 108 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John,

Are we still planning a REDI meeting Tuesday night?

Comment 109 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David, I will try my hardest to make it on Tuesday morning.

Comment 110 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David Braden said:

...the Tuesday morning meeting

I was planning to go, but ended up missing it. Let us know what happened.

Comment 111 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David Braden said:

John,

Are we still planning a REDI meeting Tuesday night?

No. Not tonight anyway, because Annette's not available tonight and we want her to be there so we can demo the software. Plan B was Tuesday the 5th at 2:00 pm, if that works for most of us. But I haven't followed up on that yet. Does it work for you guys? It works for Annette and it works for me.

Comment 112 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Sorry you missed it John and Laura,

The next ones are 2/13 in the evening and 2/26 at MBD in the morning.

Rob from MBD was there and another lady was there from an east colfax homeowners group - focus east of the Blue Bird Beat - that had worked with Colfax Community Network before, there were several other local Denver business owners. We discussed building business through involvement in the community with some good response to working together across interest and expertise.

Emily's boss, Brooke, and I went out for coffee afterwards and I talked to her about Community Investment Enterprises.

The next event is the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado CASBA event and then a Brown Bag lunch at the Alliance offices. I was planning on skipping the legislative event and try to make it to the lunch - although I can't see that on the events list at their web site.

My thought was that the first is a panel of legislatures talking about how legislation can consider the triple bottom line. I don't think there will be an opportunity to present and we are more about what we can do in spite of government.

John, have you heard any more from Kendra?

2/5 at 2:00 is on my calendar.

Comment 113 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David Braden said:

2/5 at 2:00 is on my calendar.

The REDI meeting/GETS demo will actually be at 1:00 on the 5th. I know Harv teaches a class on Tuesday afternoons starting at 3:30 and I think Laura said she has a class starting then too. So I thought 1:00 might give them enough time to participate, especially since they can participate remotely. I think the demo should last about an hour.

Comment 114 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

David Braden said:

The next event is the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado CASBA event and then a Brown Bag lunch at the Alliance offices. I was planning on skipping the legislative event and try to make it to the lunch - although I can't see that on the events list at their web site.

...: John, have you heard any more from Kendra?

I just left a message for Kendra. I'll you know when I hear from her.

Comment 115 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I'm looking into whether it might be worthwhile for us to present the trade exchange at the Investor's Circle Sustainable Ventures Fair. Deadline to apply is the day after tomorrow, 2/1.

Comment 116 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John Connell said:

I just left a message for Kendra. I'll you know when I hear from her.

Kendra says the brown bag is tomorrow at noon on the 3rd floor of the Alliance Building at 1536 Wynkoop Street.

Comment 117 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I'm still on for the 2/5 meeting at 1. As far as attending the brown bag tomorrow I will not be able to. Look forward to seeing you all at the 2/5 meeting.

Comment 118 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

[Deleted by author on 30 Jan 2008 14:57 PST: comment wasn't showing up for me and now its in there twice!]

Comment 119 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John, Laura, Thomas and I had an on-line demonstration of the GETS software this afternoon - very cool features. Annette is going to set up accounts for the four of us so that we can play with the features with test transactions.

John and I have been talking about how we get our supporters to stay interested and involved - and talked about how we want each of them to add their contacts to the REDI contact list so that John and I can make a presentation. I have been trying to get a first e-mail to that group that already understands some of what we are doing - so far I am not happy with the result.

I created a new workspace for First E-mail to Supporters with the draft. Any thoughts would be welcome.

Comment 120 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

So, thinking about the first e-mail to supporters, I am also thinking about the presentation to groups to whom our supporters introduce us. What we have been talking about is John presenting the basic functionality of the trade exchange and me presenting the idea behind local organizing. For my part, I am thinking along the lines of the Elevator Pitch comments on that would be welcome as well.

Comment 121 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I added comments on both the first email and the elevator pitch.

Comment 122 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John thought the sentences in the elevator pitch could be reorganized to put the most important thoughts first. I did that and -

There are many ideas for making things better but we generally do not spend much effort on how all those ideas might fit together. What if we step back from the focus on our individual projects to see how the success of other projects would help our own success?

is now the first two sentences. I kind of like it.

Comment 123 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I'm trying to figure out how to set up a page to link the 2/5 meeting minutes, but I am not having success. David, I know you told me, but with everything going on I am finding it so difficult. I am sending you an email with the minutes attached in the body (and also in regards to another subject). Would you mind terribly putting the minutes up on a page? I have no clue here. I'm sorry. I know its late, but I am planning to take a look at the elevator pitch on Thursday...moving and school have me insane. Cheers to everyone.

Comment 124 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

No worries Laura, I posted them at Minutes of the 2/5/08 Meeting.

Comment 125 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I have contacted the Bluebird Beat org for a meeting, March 1-8 possibly. I have my first thesis meeting tomorrow...advocating regional economics and a new world order through REDI. Can you tell I'm so excited!?!?!

Comment 126 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura,

I will be out of town March 1-8 - but if that is when they want to meet you and John can do it. Good Luck with your thesis meeting.

Comment 127 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Yes, I do hear your excitement! Let us know how the thesis meeting goes!

Comment 128 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Thesis is rocking and rolling. I have my committee, and they have my outline! Literature review starts tomorrow.

John, the Vancouver plan never came through to me. Its just in my que. I was wondering if you could send it to my email as an attachment AGAIN, since I thought I had it I deleted it. No rush. It will probably be a part of my Literature review.

Cheers all, I emailed Don Novak of the Bluebird beat back to ask for a more exclusive meeting. David, we are looking to do it between the 10th and the 19th, I believe. So we should all be here.

Comment 129 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Hi everyone, Don hasn't gotten back to me yet. I'm emailing him tomorrow during my research hours. My laptop went for a swim this weekend and is dead now. So I will be more accessible by phone for a bit. Best of the week to all of you. David, your old law firm contacted me, but with moving, job fairs, interviews, and class, I haven't been able to call him back. I plan to do so tomorrow. Thank you for the good words. Cheers all.

Comment 130 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Okay, Meeting with Don Novak of Hooked on Colfax on March 11 at 10am. I will be taking the light rail and bus, if anyone would like to join me.

My laptop went for a swim and died this weekend. All the thesis work...is gone. So is everything. Tried to backup my files last week and my external drive stopped working. Therefore, I will not have a device to bring to the meeting most likely, but I'm trying to find a replacement. Best to you all. Cheers.

Comment 131 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura Schellberg said:

My laptop went for a swim and died this weekend. All the thesis work...is gone. So is everything.

That's terrible! All that work, not to mention the computer itself. What a setback.

Okay, Meeting with Don Novak of Hooked on Colfax on March 11 at 10am. I will be taking the light rail and bus, if anyone would like to join me.

Annette, David and I will be joining you. Thank you for setting it up.

Comment 132 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I am so sorry Laura. If there were anyway I could help ? ? ?

I went to the Mile High Business Alliance - Inventing Business Series last night. They had some 15 people attending and a fairly lively open space - featuring discussions about local organizing and community currencies. A lot of interest in local business -> supporting community development -> supporting local business. I am still thinking about a template that local business associations can use to get more residents involved in neighborhood discussions.

John, Annette and I (mostly John) have been refining the business plan for presentation to Micro Business Development's loan process. Annette said she would set up the trade exchange software for REDI Exchange so we can start playing with it. John has been researching connections into the "local food" groups - and that looks promising.

I will be out of town and out of touch March 1 - 8. When I get back we have the meeting with Blue Bird Beat and I want to revisit the e-mail list to local supporters. Ideally we could send an e-mail once a month (week?) or so - treat it like a blog perhaps - and keep people thinking about who we need to talk to in the community.

In the mean time, I am re-writing Introduction to Three Dimensional Networking and Community Investment Enterprises in hopes that they can be more useful in helping people understand how all this fits together. As always, any comments, feed back, suggestions is sincerely appreciated. Thanks to all of you for your work to make our community a better place to live.

Comment 133 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John, thank you for all the information and help today on the phone. I think its part of WANTING to change the world, in which I receive set back after set back...otherwise the good guys would always win.

David, thank you for the offer. I have my laptop back now, unfortunatly its blank. Just looking to find back all the software I lost, but that may come with data recovery...pricey, but considering I lost all my graduate and undergraduate work; its worth half a semester's tuition, which is what it is costing.

I'm so excited to see all the stuff Annette has been working on. I have talked to my business partner, John, about a little, short term logo. Since I lost all my Adobe software, I can't create anything. He is a little slow, but I will put the boots to him (medium style) to get something done in the coming week. Cheers all, thanks for being so supportive. Finally, would either of you mind if I listed you as references for the upcoming jobs I am applying for? Thanks and talk soon, Laura

Comment 134 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura Schellberg said:

Finally, would either of you mind if I listed you as references for the upcoming jobs I am applying for?

Fine with me--go ahead.

Comment 135 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John, I've been working on a few short-term logos. I'm not the best artist, so I am going to ask my business partner. We recently moved out of our old place, so we don't live together anymore. However, I'm going to visit him before our meeting with Don Novak. I have a couple ideas: 1) a geometric unequally distributed "roof" with Regional Economic Development Incentive (big R, E, D, I) under the roof with some stripes encasing the words. I drew it freehand, look much better than when I used a ruler. I was thinking red and black for the coloring (red roof, black lines, black words), but I could change to blue or orange and it would still be okay. 2) Of course...REDI under a backdrop of the front range. Green mountains, black REDI 3) A green box background (the state of Colorado) with the letters REDI inside in white, then thin black lines from REDI to presumed other states 4) REDI in large bold typeface, then half the capital dome in gold or green bordering the word to the side. So let me know if you have any other ideas or if you particularly like any of these. My partner is the creative one really, so he might come up with some good stuff. Cheers. David, hope the vacation is good. I need to whisk away to England soon. The football teams are mocking me, plus the championship league playoffs are here! Weigh in the possible short-term logos. As for a permanent logo, I love using the university for free labor. What do you think about a contest sponsored by the political science department? Senior projects for the late planners will be the topic after spring break.

Comment 136 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I'd like to see them--any chance you could scan them and send them to me--do you have access to a scanner?

So far the first two sound like more of a fit to me. From the first one I get a picture of everyone under one roof and from the second connections with nature, Colorado and community. The fourth one sounds too political to me--because of the capitol. But like I said, I wouldn't really know until I see them. (I probably won't know then, either--I'm no marketing expert).

I like your free labor idea.

Comment 137 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

I am back in town and looking forward to our meeting tomorrow. Will think about the logos. John, are we car pooling?

Comment 138 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Hello, I've had a stomach virus all weekend. I wasn't able to go to school today to use the computers there to come up with a graphic of the different designs. I lost the previous software I used with my hard dark :-(.

I'm sorry but I won't be able to have a logo ready for tomorrow. Let's talk tomorrow, please, about if we'd rather do the contest idea now or go through with one of the ones I've proposed for a short-term solution. Look forward to it too! I will bring my laptop for more windows.

Comment 139 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Laura Schellberg said:

Hello, I've had a stomach virus all weekend. I wasn't able to go to school today to use the computers there to come up with a graphic of the different designs. I lost the previous software I used with my hard dark :-(.

I'm sorry but I won't be able to have a logo ready for tomorrow. Let's talk tomorrow, please, about if we'd rather do the contest idea now or go through with one of the ones I've proposed for a short-term solution. Look forward to it too! I will bring my laptop for more windows.

Hope you are feeling better, Laura. As far as the logos go, I think a short term solution is good. Just email them to us when you get a chance.

Comment 140 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

John and David,: I will email you some samples late Monday evening and talk to the department about the logo contest. How was the meeting? I'm so sorry I had to miss. I am just able to start eating again. Its been a rough time so far, but I have my chin up.

Comment 141 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Yes, keep that chin up. I enjoyed meeting Don and he liked the idea of a trade exchange. We still don't have a way to involve him until we can locate the funding - or, perhaps a periodic e-mail to supporters - still thinking about how that works without turning people off.

Comment 142 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

can you teel me does commmunity 3DN have any links with eg http://www.socialfunds.com/ci/in dex.cgi

more generally who around the usa do you find connects with your approach and who doesnt among the bigger groups who claim to be investing in communities?

sitting here in Dc where is your nearest friendly network?

Comment 143 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Thank you for the link Chris - we have some connections with socially conscious investment funds - but we are still working on the business plan/ pro-forma return on investment materials. The latest plan is to go with a loyalty card program that we can bootstrap without a lot of investment.

As far as 3DN goes, REDI is about expanding the local market by eliminating the limitations imposed by a scarce currency. Hopefully, my involvement there will lead to opportunities to design and implement systems to complement the market - heal nature and produce abundance.

Comment 144 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

Comment 145 on Regional Economic Development Initative - REDI General Discussion

david - does your redi network have anyone in the dc region I could meet; it seems that the next 6 months is set to be the mother of all bipartisan battles to see if we can unseat all the vested interests in command and control development that washington Dc has spiralised before the next president chooses whether america is going to come back from the brick of the burning biush - let me be clear what makes me angry after 30 years media research of what scocieties actually want is one dimensional politics in a multimdimensional world cos I dont see it having any democratic truth for anyone

in fact given that america spends more than half of its people's current monetary budgets on arms, debt, image-laden adverrtising, and heathcare that is double the cost any other nation pays with half the coverage, I suppose that a neutral could well say that bush has represented the democracy of what americans spend their money on very well indeed

LAST PRESIDENTIAL HURRAH

If I cpld make a wish rond my 11 year old daugheter's birthday cake which I didnt get to see cos of being on Balgaldeshi peace duties , then let me communally wish ever american could have the united space and time and even love of diversity (or at least not hidden fear of it causes I presume by too many guns and shrinks - I hear that over half of women in america now reglarly take analgesics - what kind on society is this?)

to pause and ask is that what they want to spend their money in future- if not dismantle excessive media, excessive pharma, too much spent on arms and rebuild banks that invest in people's productiviity and community- come back to multiplying goodwill worldwide which you still have extraordinary opportunitoes to do with you west coast companieds if you open up the to the 3 billion poor and not just make it another bib brother playground for commercial advertisers